Morimura, Yasumasa

▪ 1999

      One of the most provocative events in the world of art in 1998 was a retrospective of the work of Yasumasa Morimura, held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. "The Museum of Daydream and Disguise: Self-Portrait as Art History" highlighted the series of large-scale self-portraits for which Morimura was best known. Incorporating photography, painting, and computer digital imaging, the series showed the artist posed playfully in scenes that re-created famous masterpieces by Rembrandt, Édouard Manet, and Vincent van Gogh, among other renowned Western artists. Whereas some critics were puzzled by the self-portraits and wondered whether they amounted to art or simply humorous imitations, others saw them as the work of a clever cultural commentator interested in reinterpreting and parodying Western subjects from an Asian point of view. Although critics debated the significance of Morimura's art, they were unanimous in recognizing his contributions to a new global art movement, one that was based on the collapse of cultural boundaries and the free exchange of artistic influences.

      Morimura was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1951. After graduating (1978) from Kyoto City University of Arts, he served as an assistant at the university and devoted himself to painting, drawing, photography, and woodblock art. He first attracted international attention in 1988, when a number of his self-portraits were included in the Venice Biennale's "Aperto" exhibition for young artists. Solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1992), and the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art, Paris (1993), earned him further high marks. He was also one of 60 artists whose work was selected for the influential show "Japanese Art After 1945: Scream Against the Sky," which opened at the Yokohama Museum of Art in 1994 before traveling to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

      In the 1990s Morimura broadened his range of parody. Besides re-creating masterworks of Western art, he used computer technology to manipulate photographs of Western pop-culture icons, in some cases superimposing portions of his image over those of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. At a number of exhibitions, he took this technique to extremes by installing instant-photo booths alongside his self-portraits. The devices allowed any spectator to superimpose an image of his or her face over Morimura's. The artist explained his intentions by saying he believed all people had a common desire for transformation.

      In recent years Morimura had demonstrated his versatility by designing clothing for Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake and gaining attention as a lecturer, author, and singer-songwriter. In 1998 another major exhibition of his artwork, held at the Melbourne (Australia) Festival, helped solidify his reputation as one of Japan's most innovative contemporary artists.

TEIJI SHIMIZU

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